Press Review

Not surprisingly, the terrible events in the Middle East receive a lot of attention in Thursday's newspapers. Lidove noviny carries a front-page opinion piece entitled "Czechs and Israelis share a common experience". Comparing Czechoslovakia after World War II with the foundation of Israel, commentator Zbynek Petracek writes that the both countries fear the return of expellees.

The return of expelled Palestinians to Israel would have a more disastrous impact than the return of the Sudeten Germans who were forced to leave Czechoslovakia after World War II, says Petracek, who also writes for the right wing political weekly Respekt. What's more, claims the commentator, though Israel is prepared to make some form of financial compensation to expelled Palestinians, the idea of the Czechs paying compensation to Sudeten Germans is politically explosive. It's a wonder that the Czech nation does not understand and support Israel more, concludes the author.

There was great controversy when the Communist-era detective series "Major Zeman" was repeated on Czech TV. Some people said broadcasting the propaganda-filled programme was offensive to those who suffered under the Communists. Now, writes Hospodarske noviny, another icon from the Communist era is making a return. The Polish comic-strip and TV character Kapitan Kloss - a Soviet intelligence agent active during World War II - has reappeared with the publication of the complete Kloss comic strips by a Czech company.

Many streets in Prague are narrow, and you won't find any narrower than Pozarni alley in the Mala Strana or Lesser Quarter district of the city. The alley leads down to a restaurant called Certovka, after the stream that runs by it, and it's so narrow that passing other pedestrians would be uncomfortable for all but the skinniest of people. The solution - as shown in a photo in today's Pravo - traffic lights. If you want to either reach or leave the restaurant you have to wait for the little green man.

While buying medicines via the Internet is a growing phenomenon in many western countries it is illegal here in the Czech Republic. But, the president of the Czech Medical Chamber Jindrich Oswald tells Pravo, it still goes on in this country. Dr Oswald warns of the risks of buying medicines on the web - forty percent of them are either fake or of questionable quality, and they are simply dangerous, he tells the daily.

The leader of the governing Social Democrats, Vladimir Spidla, is planning to take a little time out from election campaigning at the beginning of June, writes Lidove noviny. Mr Spidla has agreed to take part in an event in which some 90 people will read Czech and Slovak literature non-stop for an incredible 200 hours. The event is - as every year - organised by the artists group Jazz Section. Following the reading in Prague it will carry on at Czech Centres in foreign capitals.

And as June's general elections draw closer, the papers have been asking people who they plan to vote for and what outcome they expect. Asked by Lidove noviny who he expects to win, scientist Jiri Grygar says "I'm a mere astrophysicist - what you need is an astrologer."